Ships of the
Constitution class are substantially upgraded in
the 2270s. Their design features are typical of the Movie era. The cylindrical nacelles are replaced with
new, more angular ones. Maneuvering thrusters are now
clearly visible in the form of colorful red/yellow RCS quads. The
deflector dish is not sticking out any longer but integrated into the engineering hull.
Phaser arrays in the form of little domes are now distributed
throughout the saucer, whereas the photon torpedo
launcher is moved to the neck.

It may be
conjectured that not all new technology that had accumulated over 25 years was
first used as late as in the Constitution refit design. There was probably not a sudden but a
gradual transition from TOS to Movie style, which is why we can reckon that the Movie
era begins
10 years before the appearance of the Constitution refit in 2271. The novel design
features are adopted for a number of other designs, the Miranda, Constellation, Oberth and Excelsior classes (although it is possible that the Oberth
predates the other ship classes of the era). The Oberth and especially the
Excelsior establish a trend of overall more streamlined designs.

Typically, starships of this era
achieve Warp 6 (cruising) and Warp 8 (maximum), according
to the old scale. Registries are from about NCC-1000 to
NCC-2000 and apparently approach the five-digit range in the final years
before the apperarance of the Ambassador NCC-10521.